Alan Helfman, Jay Wall, and William Wolff offer another of their periodic op-eds on HPD and Houston crime. Here is an excerpt:
In his inaugural speech as NYPD commissioner, [William] Bratton promised to cut serious crime by 10 percent his first year and 15 percent the second. Bratton underpromised, then overdelivered. In the 27 months of Bill Bratton’s tenure as NYPD commissioner, homicide was cut by 50 percent and serious crime was cut by 33 percent. Similar results should be achievable in Houston, not the mere 10 percent reduction in violent crime Chief Hurtt promised (over three years) on Oct. 2.
When looking back on the pre-1994 NYPD, CompStat originator Jack Maple observed that there was no question that some small percentage of police officers were thoroughly lazy, demoralized and actively sought to do as little as possible — they showed up for work, but didn’t get actively involved in crime fighting (Maple called these cops “conscientious objectors”). However, the majority of the force was “on the job,” performed to the best of their abilities and maintained high levels of performance despite the lack of supportive leadership and the cynicism of other cops. Most wanted to be good, assertive cops, but instead of leading them to excellence, NYPD command had all too often placed obstacles in their way and they became satisfied with a level of performance that was merely adequate. By using CompStat, by empowering and transforming management through the imposition of accountability systems and by forging alliances with the best and most effective operational officers, NYPD’s executive corps rapidly transformed the department into one in which the highest standards of performance became the norm.
During his original campaign for mayor, Bill White promised to run the city of Houston in a businesslike fashion. He promised a “bottom-line” focus that would be results-driven. As any good businessman knows, you can’t manage what you can’t (or won’t) measure. We are asking that HPD be managed in a businesslike manner with a true profit and loss sort of approach. HPD should be in the business of “controlling crime,” not just reacting to it.
We don’t know what Bill White’s political aspirations are, but we do know that Rudy Giuliani was propelled to national prominence and now is taking a shot at the presidency, in large part due to the fact that he was the mayor of New York City when NYPD got smart on crime. Will a major reduction in crime in Houston be seen as part of Bill White’s legacy? There is still time.
In other parts of the op-ed, the authors discuss how CompStat was implemented — with great success — in New York City.
Interestingly, the approach in New York apparently did not call for Bratton to jet off to Phoenix on weekends, like some big-city chiefs.
